In the waste and recycling industries, fire incidens can occur in daily operation. The causes of these fire incidents include traditional hazards like aerosol cans, propane storage tanks, fertilizers, as well as new technology hazards such as lithium-ion batteries. With the increasing use of lithium ion batteries in everyday household items, fire risks are growing ech and every day.

In March 2019, a lithium-ion batter sparked a five-alarm fire at a recycling facility in Queens, New York City. The fire lasted for two days. That same month, an Indianapolis recycling plant also shut down after a fire blamed on batteries. In 2017, fires from discarded smartphones accounted for 65% of California’s waste facility fires. In the UK, fire and rescue services attend around 300 significant fires in the waste sites each year.

Waste managers are urging residents to porperly dispose electronics at designated recycling centers or hazardouse waste collection sites. But it often happens that lithium batteries and devices carrying them end up in the wrong bin.

The standards for tradtional fire safety equipment such as sprinklers and fire extinguishers work in many occupations. However, in the waste and recycling industries, bare minimum safety measures are not enough to proactively protect from everyday hazards.

Hundreds of millions of Lithium batteries or equipment with Lithium batteries are carried on aircraft annually. On a typical flight, an aircraft carrying 100 passengers could have more than 500 lithium batteries on board. This includes devices such as laptop computers, tablet devices, mobile phones, powerbanks, cameras, electronic watches, e-readers. Also carry-on items such as Portable IF and defibrillators carries Lithium batteries. Furthermore, more and more flying crews are taking advantage of the capabilities offered by Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) The majority of which use Lithium batteries as a primary power source. But Lithium batteries may also enter a cockpit in the form of a flashlight, laptop, iPad, camera, mobile phone etc.

It is clear that lithium batteries presents a significant threat to pilots, passengers, aircraft and ground crews. Not only due to the number of batteries on board, but also to the difficulty in gaining access during an emergency.

A total of 171 incidents between 1991 and 2016 was recorded involving batterys carried as baggage or cargo on airplanes. (recorded by the US Federal Aviation Administration) .